Kendrick Morris in court. (Fox 13)
A man in Florida who raped, beat and left a teen girl for dead outside a public library eight years ago asked for a shorter sentence -- but instead, the judge on Thursday sent him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Kendrick Morris originally was sentenced to 65 years in prison for the crime, commited when he was a teenager.
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He was granted a re-sentencing hearing after a Supreme Court decision that determined lengthy sentences for juvenile offenders are unconstitutional, and that they should have the opportunity for parole.
However, a re-sentencing hearing doesn't guarantee a lesser sentence. In Morris' case, it meant more time in prison. Now, instead of 65 years, he is sentenced to life.
Morris will be up for a sentencing review in 2031.
In 2008, Kendrick Morris -- then 16 years old -- was convicted for a brutal rape at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library in Valrico that left a young woman blind and paralyzed for life.
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